


Expectations of Love

by wendylesbiaburger



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), The Isle of the Lost Series - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Acceptance, Bisexual Mal, Coming Out, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Gay Carlos de Vil, Lesbian Evie, Lesbian Jane, M/M, VK's didn't know gays existed, ben's barely in it oops, bisexual Jay, lesbian li lonnie, people actually think Lonnie isn't a lesbian? in this economy, sort of book compliant, there's bal but barely
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-02-08 00:28:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12852792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wendylesbiaburger/pseuds/wendylesbiaburger
Summary: Evie had been told all her life she had to marry a prince, and if not a prince, a boy. But while she couldn't put it into words, she knew that wasn't the life for her.





	Expectations of Love

Evie had spent years wanting to marry a prince, at least, she spent years thinking that’s what she wanted. Her mother, the Evil Queen, had put into her brain that that was not only something she should have as a goal, but the only thing that would give her any worth. 

She never thought about how she felt about princes, or guys in general. After how shitty Chad treated her, the obvious choice was the guy who treated her good. Doug. She realistically should have feelings for Doug. He treated her well, he was a good guy, saw how smart she was, never held who her mother was against her, all of that should make the perfect guy to fall in love with. 

She’d spent the past few months trying to figure out exactly why she felt this way, or why she didn’t feel that way. There was no reason why she shouldn’t fall for him. But he didn’t fill her mind and she didn’t think about kissing him. And she couldn’t think of a reason why. 

She walked around the quad, her notes from chemistry out as she read them, repeating them to herself. She decided to keep on her feet, walking around instead of staying in the library or her dorm room. Doug wouldn’t find her that way and she wasn’t in the mood with deal with him. 

“Hey, Eve,” Carlos’s voice came, walking to her side. “Why’re you studying out here?” he asked, raising his brow at her. 

“Uh,” she said, glancing at him, giving him a fake smile. “It’s a nice day?” 

He definitely heard the questioning in her voice. He frowned at her. “And you’re studying while walking?”

She gave him a fake smile and nodded. “Yep, it is a lovely day?” Before he could ask what was really wrong, she changed the subject. “How’s Jane?” 

The colour seemed to drain from his face. “Uh,” he coughed, scratching the back of his neck. “Fine, I guess,” he said. “We kind of broke up.”

She frowned. “Oh,” she said. Then playfully nudged him with her elbow. “What? She couldn’t handle how rotten you are, huh?”

He didn’t even smile at that. “Uh, actually I broke up with her.”

She frowned. “After all you went through to go out with her you just broke up with her?” 

He shrugged. “Realised I didn’t like her as much as I thought I did.” His voice was small, like he was scared to admit the words. He cleared his throat. “How’s Doug?” 

She felt a lump in her throat, looking away, back at her notes. “Fine.”

She could practically feel him frowning at her. “You don’t sound so sure.” 

“I’m sure,” she replied, her voice small, definitely far from convincing. 

She couldn’t vent the confusing thoughts to Carlos. Sure, he was one of her best friends but maybe not the person to talk about this with. 

Maybe she could vent to Mal. 

Mal was by far her favourite person. Back on the Isle she was who always had her back, and she had hers. With Jay and Carlos of course. But she and Mal always looked out for each other the most. 

“Well, okay, if you’re sure,” he said. “I’ve gotta meet Jay anyway, he’s gonna help me out with Tourney.” 

She raised her brow at him. “Really?” she asked. 

“Yeah, he wants to help me get better so coach will take me more seriously,” he laughed. “I’ll see you later.”

“See ya,” she muttered and he walked towards the Tourney field. 

She sighed and looked back at her notes. 

“Evie!” a voice called and she froze. Looks like her plan of avoiding Doug had failed. 

She put on her best smiled and looked at him. “Hey, Doug!” she said as he came to her side. 

“I’ve been looking for you,” he said. “You okay?” he asked.

“Good,” she said. 

He nodded. “Soaking up the sunshine?” he asked, curiously raising a brow. 

“Yeah,” she nodded quickly. “And studying,” she waved her notes at him to show. 

He looked at the sheets. “So you’re walking and studying?” he asked, clearly confused by her choice of revision method.

She nodded, giving a fake smiled. “Just, trying different ways to study.”

He looked confused, but accepted it soon enough, nodding and smiling. This guy would do anything to her. How did she get so lucky?

And how had she not fallen in love with him?

“Well, want to go back to your room and study?” he asked. 

She fiddled with the notes, swallowing the lump in her throat. “Uh, actually, I was about to go… to the Tourney field!” she said, stopping in her tracks and turning to him. “Jay was going to help Carlos practice and I wanted to watch!” 

He looked surprised at her small outburst but nodded. “Okay, I’ll come with you.”

She stopped the frown that threatened to tug on her lips. She didn’t need to look disappointed. He was her boyfriend after all. She nodded. “Okay, cool,” she said. “Yeah, I think Carlos could use all the support he can get.”

He leaned forward to kiss her but she ducked away, kissing him quickly on the cheek instead. She didn’t miss the disappointed look on his face. They hadn’t kissed much at all and she avoided it when she could. Kissing Doug brought dread into her stomach rather than excitement or butterflies, the kind of things that seemed to happen to every other girl with a boy they liked. The kind of things Mal told her she felt with Ben. How he made her happy and she would want to kiss and cuddle him. 

Why didn’t Doug make her feel that way? The last thing she wanted to do was any of that. She liked spending time with him, he was genuinely a good guy but she didn’t care to do any romantic stuff with him. The thought of kissing him, and dear god having marrying him, was something she’d much rather avoid. 

What was wrong with her?

They walked to the Tourney field, Evie forcing herself to hold his hand. When they got to the field she saw Jane, Lonnie, Mal, and Ben sat on the bleachers. 

“Hey guys,” Doug said as Evie sat with Mal. 

Lonnie glanced at them. “Hey, came to cheer on Carlos too?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Cool of Jay to help out like that.”

“Jay is a cool guy,” she agreed. 

“Yeah,” Mal agreed and looked at Jane, a smirk on her face. “Here to support your boyfriend, Jane?”

She turned completely red at that comment and Mal looked satisfied, clearly the reaction she wanted. “Uh, he’s not my boyfriend anymore.”

“Really?” Mal stood up straighter. “Didn’t know that.”

“We just broke up,” she explained. “We’re still friends though, and I want to see him improve in Tourney.”

“Hm, that’s sweet,” she said, her tone coated in fake sweetness. 

Yep, you could take the girl out of the but couldn’t take the isle out of the girl. 

Evie decided to tune them out, and focus on Jay and Carlos. Jay was helping Carlos score by playing goalie. She smiled as Jay encouraged Carlos when he missed the goal. She couldn’t really hear what they were saying from this distance but she didn’t miss their smiling faces.

Then a thought occurred to her. 

She looked at Lonnie. “Hey, Lonnie, you and Jay ever go out on a real date after Cotillion?” 

She frowned at her. “Oh, nah,” she said. “Never came up.”

She frowned. “Ah, okay.”

“I think he likes Audrey anyway,” she said. “Besides, I’m his captain. Wouldn’t be professional.”

She stared at her for a moment then nodded. “Right.”

“Wait, what?” Mal said looking at her. “Jay definitely doesn’t like Audrey,” she said. 

“Yeah,” Evie agreed. “And he can do far better than Audrey. And they make about as much sense as Jane and–” she cut herself off. She was going to say ‘Jane and Carlos’ but Jane was right there. She may be a villain’s daughter but even that was a little too heinous bitch for her. “As Jane and Chad.”

Jane grimaced at those words. “He truly is horrible,” she agreed.

“Huge ass,” Mal nodded. 

Ben smiled. “He’s not that bad,” he said.

“Alright, your Majesty,” Mal replied, rolling her eyes. “Whatever you say.” 

“Nah, Chad’s pretty bad,” Doug agreed and Evie turned her head to smile at him.

“See, even Doug agrees,” she said, whipping her head back to look at Mal. 

Mal smiled. “Well, of course I’m right,” she said. They smiled at each other for a moment and Evie looked back at the field, a warm feeling in her chest. 

It was the right time apparently, as Carlos gave a pretty weak shot but it seemed to be enough to get passed Jay. Jane clapped excitedly and Evie grinned, Mal shouting “Go Carlos!” 

“Yeah Carlos!” she called herself. 

“So… we’re going to pretend Jay didn’t let that get passed him?” Ben asked quietly. 

“Yes,” the rest of them replied with. Evie smiled at the two, watching Carlos as he got excited and Jay swung his arm around his shoulders, ruffling his hair. She could hear them laughing and they walked back to where they were sitting at the bleachers. Jay kept his arm around Carlos as they walked towards them.

“Good job, Carlos,” Evie said and she would’ve hugged him if Jay clearly wasn’t adamant on keeping his arm around him. 

“You’re really improving,” Ben said. 

Carlos shrugged. “Probably won’t be enough to convince coach.”

“Nah, you’ll be better than most of the team in no time,” Jay grinned, ruffling his hair again. Carlos laughed, batting his hand away. 

“Stop messing with my hair,” he said, but he was grinning despite that. 

Evie almost raised a brow. They’d always been close but they were being especially affectionate. It was almost weird if they hadn’t been affectionate in the past. 

“Any of you guys want to play too?” Jay asked.

“I’m terrible at sport,” Doug said.

“Yeah, not surprised,” Jay said. 

“Jay!” Ben argued. Evie should’ve come to Doug’s defence too but she didn’t. 

Turned out she didn’t have to. “Nah, he’s right,” Doug said. “I’m much better in academics.” 

“Well, any of you guys want to join us?” Jay asked. 

“I’m better at sword fighting,” Lonnie shrugged and stood up. “And I have homework.” 

“And I,” Ben said standing up. “Actually have work to do.”

“King stuff, I’m assuming?” Mal asked. 

He nodded and bent down to kiss her cheek. Evie felt a weird pang in her stomach at that. “Yeah, I’ll see you later.”

Evie glanced at Jane and she suddenly realised she’d been avoiding looking at Carlos. She stood up quickly. “My mother actually wanted to see me,” she spoke quickly and nervously. Evie glanced at Carlos and noticed he seemed to also be avoiding looking at her. “I’ll see you in class.”

She walked quickly to Lonnie’s side and they walked off together as Ben walked ahead of them.

She watched the nervousness in Jane’s stance. Jane had always seemed to be high strung and anxious but she seemed to be worse than usual.

“Bad breakup, I’m assuming?” Mal asked. 

“Uh…” Carlos hesitated. “Yeah but I wasn’t like, awful to her,” he said. He glanced at Evie and he eyed Doug. “Don’t you have things to do too Doug?” he asked.

Evie looked at Doug and noticed he was thrown off by his words. But he seemed to quickly recover because he stood up. “VK’s want to be alone, I get it,” he shrugged and looked back at Evie. “I’ll see you later.”

She nodded and he kissed her cheek. She gave him a weak smile and he hopped off the bleachers, walking back to the dorms. 

“Wow,” Jay commented, raising his brow. 

“What?” Evie asked, frowning.

“Nothing,” he said, his arm still around Carlos. “Just that you don’t seem that comfortable around him.” 

She frowned. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You kind of flinched when he kissed you,” Carlos said. 

No, she couldn’t have done that. She thought she’d been good at faking it but apparently the boys are seeing through it.

“Guys, leave her alone,” Mal said. 

The boys glanced at each other but seemed to shrug it off. “Okay,” Carlos said.

“C’mon,” Jay said taking Carlos’s hand and pulling him more onto the pitch. “Let’s practice more.”

They ran back to the field, taking a moment before letting go of their hands. Evie watched them. The affection was there again. It was kind of strange but she didn’t think too much about it.

“So,” Mal said. “You did kind of flinch when Doug kissed you.”

“I did not,” she muttered but there was bite in her tone. 

Mal frowned at her. “You don’t have to date him you know?”

“I never said I had to.”

“No, I mean if you think you have to date him or whatever,” she shrugged. “I know he’s better than, say, Chad. But I don’t know, you never seemed to like him that much. You seemed to only like him because he’s nice.”

“Isn’t that how it is for everyone?” she frowned. Sure, she maybe didn’t like him romantically but surely him being nice meant something.

Mal frowned. “Well, it’s better than hating him,” she shrugged. “You don’t have to date him if you don’t like him like that?”

But wasn’t the whole point to marry a guy? Maybe not a prince, but to just get married? Now she knew it was better to be to a guy who respected her. But still, marry and guy and have kids. That was the point, right?

She looked back at the field watched Carlos score. By the look of it, Jay didn’t let him score on purpose. Even taking off his helmet to smile at him. Mal dropped the conversation to cheer at him and Evie joined in. 

While she focussed on cheering her friend on, she pushed that confusion from her mind.

…

“How’d you memorise the periodic table again?” Evie asked, Carlos, scanning over her homework. She was good at chemistry and all but not even she had done that.

“Nervous habit from when I was a kid,” he shrugged across from her. They decided to study together in the library. They usually kept to their rooms but Evie had suggested that they might be more motivated in the library.

Plus, Doug wouldn’t think of looking for her in here. 

“What a great nervous habit,” she muttered, reading over the elements again. 

He just smiled at her, doing his own homework. 

“How’s Tourney going?” she asked idly. 

“Not great, but Jay is still trying to help. Coach is still sceptical though. Jay’s trying to convince him I’ve improved. If it weren’t for Jay I probably would’ve been thrown off the team by now.” 

She smiled. “You’re not that bad, you’ve been improving. We saw you playing the other day.”

He snorted. “Yeah and Jay one hundred per cent let all of them through.”

Well damn. “It definitely wasn’t all of them.”

“At least he’s trying to help, I know he did it to boost my confidence.” There was a small smile on his lips as he said that. It was probably nothing though. Probably just happy that Jay was being such a good friend to him.

“So,” Carlos said, looking back at her. “How’s Doug?” he asked casually. 

She shrugged. She hadn’t seen him much at all actually. Her plan to avoid him had worked for the most part. Class was the only thing that got in the way of that plan. “He’s fine.”

He frowned. “Can I ask you something? And please be honest.”

She bit her lip and nodded. “Okay.”

“You clearly don’t like Doug. Why are you dating him?”

She felt a lump in her throat, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. “Why’d you date Jane when you clearly never liked her?”

He turned red, looking down at his notes. “I don’t know. I guess I thought she was my only option.” 

She looked at him. Really looked at him. That was… a weird thing to say. “What do you mean?”

He looked nervous, biting his lip. “Just that, I guess I thought I had to go with somebody. Jane felt like she should be my option.”

This time, she rolled her eyes. “Hate to break it to you but you two made absolutely no sense. Lonnie and Jay would make more sense and even that’s a stretch.” 

She at least got a small laugh from him from that. “He doesn’t like her like that anyway,” he said. “And Lonnie doesn’t like him like that either.”

She nodded. “Yeah, she told me. Besides, Jay can get a date with anyone so I think he’ll be fine.”

Carlos kept his eyes on his work. “I think he will be.”

There was something in his tone but Evie wasn’t sure what it was. It probably wasn’t important, she decided before getting back to her work. 

…

Mal almost slammed the door behind herself when she got back to her and Evie’s dorm, getting her attention immediately. She’d been making a new dress and was so distracted that it startled her.

She glanced at Mal. “You okay?” she asked as Mal tossed her bag aside. 

She huffed and sat on her bed. “E, do you think I’m cut out to be a queen?” 

It was such a sudden question but also it kind of wasn’t. Mal seemed to go through an identity crisis on the regular. But dating a King would bring this question. There was no way it wouldn’t. 

“Do you think you are?” she asked, looking at her. 

“No! That’s why I’m asking you! You’re meant to say ‘Mal, you’d be a great queen’.” 

“Mal, you’d be a great queen,” she said.

“No I wouldn’t!” she shrieked. “I can barely do this lady of the court shit! How can I be a queen?” 

She got up and sat next to her. She put her arms around her shoulders, and pulled Mal to rest her head on her shoulder. She just held her and Mal kept her head rested on her shoulder. 

It was nice. It was actually really nice to comfort her like this. She liked protecting Mal, she liked making sure she knew she had her to support her.

Her stomach had erupted in butterflies. It got worse when she nuzzled into her neck. “Evie, I don’t know how I can do this,” she mumbled. 

“You don’t have to,” she whispered.

“But I’m with Ben, and I want to be with him,” she said. She sniffled and Evie’s heart dropped. She nuzzled into her hair.

“You’d be an amazing queen, Mal,” she said softly. “And Ben loves you.”

She nodded and looked at her, tears running down her face. “I hope he still will when he realises I might be queen.”

Evie pulled her hand forward and wiped away her tears. “He will still love you, I promise,” she said.

Mal wiped her nose and rested her head on Evie’s shoulder. “Thanks E,” she replied. Evie gave her another squeeze. “I’m just nervous for that dinner, the one all the kings and queens will be attending. I’m going to have to meet too many at once and it’s just stressing me out. Everyone is already seeing me as the queen. It’s just so stressful and the pressure is unbelievable.”

Evie nodded. “You’re going to do great, Mal. They’ll all love you.”

Mal smiled again and nuzzled back into her neck. Evie smiled softly and nuzzled into her hair.

She realised right then she wouldn’t mind stying like that forever. 

A knock came at their door. When Mal lifted her head Evie was ready to throw whoever that person was out.

“Who is it?” Mal called. 

“Just me,” Doug’s voice came and her stomach dropped. Of course. 

She took a deep breath. “It’s open!” she called. 

Doug came in, smiling at the two. “Hey girls,” he said and walked to Evie’s bed, sitting across from them. Evie took it as a sign to move away from Mal and she missed that contact immediately. 

“Hey Doug,” Evie said. 

“Hey Dougey, how are you?” Mal asked, smirking as she used the nickname. 

“Great, actually,” he smiled. “You two excited for the big royal dinner being held?”

“Yeah,” Evie lied. 

No, she actually wasn’t. She had to make far too many dresses to properly enjoy the lead up to it. Plus, she’d have to go with Doug. She was looking forward to that actual dressing up and the food. But she wasn’t exactly looking forward to having to spend the night with Doug and unable to avoid him. Even if she latched to Jay and Carlos they probably had their own dates to focus on. 

Aside from that, all of the royalty that would be there would just stress her out. She was dating Doug, meaning Snow White would be unavoidable. 

The only reason she, Jay, and Carlos were going at all was because they were invited to be there. Much to the envy of many students. Ben had invited a few other students, she wasn’t sure entirely who but she knew the children of those royals would be there, meaning she’d have to suffer through Chad and Audrey. But there’d definitely be girls throwing themselves at Jay and Carlos in hopes of getting a date with either of them so they could go. She’d have to ask them about that. 

She could go through one more date with Doug, but she’d have to break up with him eventually. The whole avoiding him was getting difficult. But he was just so nice that she almost felt guilty of even thinking about doing it. She knew she shouldn’t feel that way and if she wasn’t happy, she should just end it. 

But for some reason she couldn’t let him go. And anytime she thought about it she got a knot in her stomach. 

“Well, I cannot wait to escort you,” he smiled. 

She gave him her perfect fake smile. She had plenty of practice with it. 

She’d just have to keep it up during the entire dinner.

…

Evie soon realised her assumption of how girls acted around Jay and Carlos, mostly Jay, was right. 

As they passed girls in a quad, there were smiles and waves at both of the boys. Mal seemed to find it quite funny. At least it put her mind off of her stresses about being queen. 

The weird thing was, they weren’t acknowledging girls who smiled at them. Not even Jay, who was infamous for being a flirt. 

“So,” Evie said smiling at the two. “Since you have so many options, who are you two going to take to the dinner.” 

The colour seemed to drain from Carlos’s face and Jay’s body went a little rigid. She hadn’t expected that kind of reaction. Almost like they were hiding something…

“Uh, we might not be bringing dates,” Jay shrugged. 

“Yep,” Carlos nodded quickly. “No dates for us.”

Mal glanced back at the two, looking just as confused as Evie. “You sure about that?” she asked, raising her brow. 

Both boys nodded. “Besides,” Jay said. “Why would either of us want to bring a girl who only wanted to go for the party? We can keep each other company.”

“You could always go with someone already attending,” Mal said. “Like Audrey.”

Carlos’s nose scrunched at the sound of her name and Jay laughed. “Uh, no thanks,” he said. 

Evie smiled. “What about Lonnie?”

Jay pressed his lips together. “I uh… I don’t like her like that,” he replied. That was weird. Usually Jay was confident but for some reason the mention of Lonnie changed that. Sure, Lonnie said herself they wouldn’t go together but she had been sure Jay had some interest. 

“Besides,” Jay said and playfully elbowed Carlos. “If I don’t keep this guy company he’d just bring Dude as his date and that can only end terribly.”

A smile came back to Carlos’s face and he playfully shoved Jay. “Shut up,” he said. “I wouldn’t bring Dude to something like that.”

“You bring him everywhere else, even the coronation,” he pointed out.

“Fair point.”

Jay grinned at him, almost beaming. They sat at one of the tables, setting their lunch on top. 

“You going with Doug?” Carlos asked her casually as he took a bite of his sandwich. 

She blushed slightly and nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “I’ll probably be too busy focussing on Dizzy than him to be honest.” She knew Dizzy would love to come to the dinner. She’d already had people lined up to do their hair and Evie figured she deserved to go, she was planning to surprise her with a dress. She seemed ecstatic about the money she was going to get from working there. 

Jay laughed. “Has she adjusted to Auradon?” he asked. 

She nodded. “She loves it.” Ben had kept his promise in moving in kids from the Isle to Auradon. She’d seen so many joyous faces as a result and was ecstatic to see Dizzy’s among them. She had adjusted quickly and was eating a ton of the treats Auradon offered. She was pretty much as bad as Jay and Carlos were when they first got to Auradon. Well, they were still pretty bad actually. They’d brought quite a bit of chocolate with them for lunch. 

Some girls passed their table and smiled and waved at the boys. Carlos turned a little red, taking a bite of chocolate as Jay swiftly ignored them. 

Yep, something was definitely going on between the two. It was unusual for Jay to not even acknowledge girls flirting with him. He was usually the one to initiate it. But he didn’t even give the girls a glance. She could figure out why. Most of the girls were being even more forward than they were before cotillion. Girls were even trying to getting Carlos’s attention and Carlos wasn’t at all known for giving girls a ton of attention. 

Maybe they were genuinely uninterested in going with girls. Maybe because they didn’t want to go with girls who were more interested in the event than they were in them. That made sense. It didn’t explain why they were being so particularly affectionate though. Or even why Carlos broke up with Jane. She was sure they liked each other a lot. Especially after all that effort Carlos went through to ask her out. 

“You two sure you don’t want to go with any girls?” Mal asked, eyeing a couple girls who snuck smiles at Jay as they passed their table. “You two seem to be popular right now just because you’re attending.”

Jay shrugged and Carlos still looked a little flushed. “Like we said, don’t really care,” he said, this time smoothly. But his eyes flickered to Carlos for a moment whose eyes were on his food. 

Evie glanced at Mal who looked a little confused. But Jay just went back to eating and the boys clearly wanted to drop the conversation. Mal seemed to shrug it off. Evie decided to change the subject, but she couldn’t get her mind off of the confusion.

…

“Can the skirt be shorter? Like above my knees?” Lonnie asked as Evie worked on her dress. Lonnie was standing on the stool as Evie worked on the fitting. 

“Sure,” she nodded. The skirt wasn’t that long, only a little passed her knees so taking the hem up would be easy enough.

“You have your own dress for the dinner yet?” she asked as Evie stuck pins into the skirt. 

“Yes,” she grinned. She’d been working on it for weeks and it was almost perfect. She even matched it with a little hair accessory that Dizzy had made for her. Dizzy had been making so may hair accessories for people in Auradon and was overjoyed with them money she made from it. 

“The dinner is always my favourite time of the year,” Lonnie said. “All that delicious food, everyone in gorgeous outfits,” she smiled. “It’s amazing.”

She nodded. “I’ll bet. Dizzy is beyond excited.”

“You going with Doug?” she asked.

She nodded, because they were. Of course she would have to go with her boyfriend. 

It would also mean having to meet Snow White and The Prince. She’d met both of them before in passing, as well as a couple of the Dwarfs, but she’d never had a proper conversation with them. Going with Doug meant sitting with his cousins, uncles, and of course Snow White. Hopefully she’d be able to convince Doug for them to stay near Jay and Carlos, or for the two to sit with her and Doug’s family so she wouldn’t be as lonely. 

“You going with anyone?” she asked.

She shook her head. “Nah, like I’d bring a date to something by dad will be at,” she laughed. 

She pressed her lips together as she finished off pinning the hem. Not the moment she wanted to be reminded of parents. She stood up. “Okay, how’s the length?” she asked.

Lonnie looked in the mirror and smiled. “Yep, this is perfect.”

As she changed back into her clothes behind a divider Evie had set up, Mal stepped into the room. 

“Why did no one tell me being queen meant having kids too!?” she blurted as she stepped into the room. 

“Uh, Mal?” she tried to warn her that Lonnie was in the room but she seemed too distressed to stop talking. 

“I mean how could I ever be a mom!” she rambled on. “My mother was Maleficent!”

“Mal,” she nodded to the divider and that stopped her ramble. Realisation crossed Mal’s face, staring at the divider.

“Sorry,” Lonnie said quickly stepping out. “Time for me to leave anyway.”

Mal looked pretty pale as Lonnie left the room, closing the door behind her. 

Mal sighed, rubbing her eyes. “Evie, I’ll be a terrible mother,” she said, sitting on her bed. Evie bit her lip and sat next to her, cuddling close to her. Mal rested her head on her shoulder. 

That weird feeling in her stomach was back. The butterflies. It got even more intense when Mal nuzzled more into her shoulder. 

She took a deep breath and pulled her closer to her. 

“I just forget everything the being with Ben would involve,” she said. “Being in the court is hard enough but being a queen? Having fucking kids? I don’t know if I can do it.”

Evie nuzzled into her hair and rubbed her arm, doing her best to comfort her. She was clearly under so much pressure. And the advice she wanted to give her was to, if she was truly dreading what a marriage to Ben would entail, she should breakup with him. 

But that was terrible advice to give. Because Mal loved Ben. And she didn’t know why a piece of her wanted Mal to break up with Ben so bad. Or why it felt so nice to hold Mal. Or why she didn’t have that feeling with Doug. 

She didn’t offer any advice. She didn’t have any to give. She just stayed on her bed holding her. 

What the hell was she feeling? 

…

The night of the dinner finally came, and Evie was as ready as she could be. Dizzy had done her hair like promised, and she was overjoyed when she brought out her dress. She smiled over her joy. Dizzy quickly got changed into it and they were ready to leave. 

She was meeting with Jay and Carlos at their room. Dizzy had gone off with her own friends who were attending and Mal was going to ride with Ben – of course – leaving a carriage to just herself, Jay, Carlos, and Doug. 

She walked to the boys’ dorms and knocked on the boys’ door when she got there. “Guys? Ready?”

She heard the sound of footsteps and hushed voices before Carlos opened the door. He was dressed and looked ready to go. “Just a minute, we’re almost ready,” he smiled. 

She glanced passed him at Jay whose hair was slipping out of the bun it was in. “Need help with your hair Jay?” she asked. 

His hands went for his hair and laughed a little. He fixed it up, smoothing out his hair. 

“Ready to go?” she asked.

Carlos whipped his head to Jay and from the way they looked at each other it was like they were having a conversation from that one look. She looked at them curiously.

“Guys? We going?” she asked again. 

Carlos looked back at her. “Yeah,” he said, biting his lip. “Just, uh, something first.”

She looked at him curiously. “Alright?”

He looked back at Jay, as if waiting for him to talk. They seemed to have another mental conversation. 

Finally, Jay spoke. “We both have a date for tonight.”

She was surprised for a moment then smiled. “Cool. Who’re you guys going with?”

Carlos and Jay were still staring at each other. She was about to ask what was wrong but Carlos spoke, his cheeks tinting a little pink. “We’re going together.”

She looked at them curiously. “Like as friends? I already knew that.” Why were they being so weird about this? Plenty of people went to events like this with their friends. And Jay had said he was going to keep Carlos company.

“No Evie,” Carlos said. “We meant, we’re going together. As in a date. A date-date.”

She looked at him curiously. She’d never heard of two guys going on a date somewhere together. “Wait, so like how a guy and a girl–”

“Yes,” they both cut her off. 

“Didn’t know that was a thing,” she said honestly. That was something that hadn’t even ever occurred to her. Two guys liking each other like that, or even two girls. Dating wasn’t that big of a thing on the Isle, but guys and girls hooking up was regular. The students at their old school Dragon Hall was no stranger to that. But she’d never heard anything to do with two guys or two girls. 

Carlos nodded, as if he could understand exactly what she meant. Of course he did. “Well, turns out it is,” he said. “That’s why Jane and I broke up.”

“You two are gonna have to slow down,” she said, putting her hands up. “So, you broke up with Jane because you like Jay that way?” 

He nodded. “See, I realised I don’t like girls that way, I like guys, well, Jay, that way,” he explained. “It’s called, “gay” if you wanted a word for it. I looked it up.”

Jay stepped forward so he was behind Carlos, putting his hand on “And with me, I guess I just like people? Like, gender doesn’t matter. Bisexual, it’s called,” he added on. “And I realised I liked Carlos that way too. That make sense at all?”

She was silent but nodded. “Yeah, I think it does,” she shrugged. “So, you’re what? Boyfriend and… boyfriend now?” 

They nodded, both a little red. “We are,” Jay said. 

“Awesome, that means you two aren’t going alone,” she added, smiling at the two. But it kept ringing in her head.

People could like other people who were the same gender as them.

People could like them exclusively. 

People could not like who they were told they were meant to their entire lives.

“Let’s go, Doug’s probably waiting,” she said, smiling at the two.

She turned to walk but she noticed the relieved smile the boys exchanged. She smiled to herself, and it dawned on her how much sense they made. 

The got to their carriage where Doug was waiting for them. “Hey guys,” he said. “Lonnie, Jane, Audrey, and Chad will be riding with us.”

Evie glanced at Carlos and saw his face drop. “Jane?” 

He nodded. “I thought you two were okay?” he asked, frowning a little. “That’s what she said.”

“She did?”

“Well, it’s not like either of you have dates, right?” Doug asked and he saw him pale a little. 

Jay opened his mouth, probably to disagree but Carlos spoke before he could. “Right.”

“Might as well step in while we wait,” Doug said and opened the door to the carriage. “After you,” he said to Evie. She glanced at the boys, and saw them briefly whisper to each other. 

“Evie?” Doug asked. She held back a sigh and stepped onto the carriage. Doug followed and then the boys did. It was a stretched carriage, so it could easily fit four more people. Evie sat between Doug and Carlos, Jay next to Carlos. They were still whispering to themselves, hearing something along the lines “I’m sorry” from Carlos and an “it’s okay, Los,” from Jay. Clearly they were too ready to tell people they were dating. Maybe it was taboo in Auadon? She wasn’t sure if that was worse than it being unheard of in the Isle. 

Doug was rambling about something, holding her hand. But she wanted to let go and move away. All she could think about what she’d found out. 

Guys could like guys. And maybe girls could like girls too. Right? Surely that could be a thing too?

“Is this our carriage, seriously?” 

She almost groaned, while Carlos and Jay actually did. Chad was here and probably Audrey too. 

“Yeah guys, ready?” Doug asked, opening the door for them. He gave them both a cheerful smile only to get an eye roll courtesy of Audrey in return. 

“When are we leaving?” Audrey asked sitting down across from them, her eyes landing on the three villain kids across from her. “And what are they doing here?” 

“Could ask the same,” Carlos muttered, and he shuffled a little bit closer to Jay. 

Chad gave the three of them an annoyed look. “That little brat of your better not bother my parents,” he said.

She glared at him. “You mean Dizzy?” she asked through gritted teeth. 

He shrugged. “Whatever the pipsqueak’s name is,” he said. “Keep her away from my mother.”

“I’m sure she has better things to do,” she replied. 

“Okay!” Doug cut in. “I think I see Jane and Lonnie coming.” 

Evie glanced out the window and saw the two coming forward. Doug stepped out to hold the door open it for them. She could feel Carlos tense up next to her when he saw her. Jay leaned close to whisper something to him but she couldn’t make it out. She didn’t miss the curious looks from Audrey and Chad though. 

Audrey seemed to not care that much and smiled at Jane and Lonnie when the stepped in, sitting next to them. “Hi girls,” she said as Doug stepped back in and the carriage finally set off. 

“Hi everyone,” Lonnie smiled. Jane stayed quiet, keeping her eyes away from Carlos. “You two going together I’m guess?” she asked Audrey and Chad. 

“Yeah,” she said. “You two don’t have dates? Or are you going with these two?” she asked, that fake sweetness in her voice as she nodded to Jay and Carlos.

She shook her head. “No,” She said as Jane kept her eyes on her lap, like she wanted the ground to swallow her up. 

Audrey raised a brow. “So you two don’t have dates, and what?” she looked at the boys. “And you don’t have dates either?”

Jay looked ready to blow, he lips pressing in a line. Even it weren’t for Carlos’s sake he probably would’ve told her she was wrong. 

“Actually,” Lonnie said and glanced at Jane. “We’re going together,” she shrugged and took Jane’s hand.

Chad and Audrey both blinked in confusion. 

“So wait? You two are lesbians?” Chad asked. Not disgusted, just confused. 

They nodded and both turned red, keeping their eyes away from the boys.

Evie looked at the boys and they both looked surprised, and after exchanging a look, burst into laughter.

Lonnie glared at them. “What’s so funny?”

Carlos had fallen a little onto Jay, and as if to catch him, Jay wrapped an arm around his hips. When they stopped laughing, Carlos buried his face into Jay’s shoulder and with a smile Jay said, “We’re dating.”

The five Auradon kids stared at them but Lonnie and Jane smiled and laughed. “Really?” Lonnie asked. 

Jay nodded. “Yeah.” 

Evie smiled at the two and then glanced at Doug. “You knew?” he asked.

She nodded. “They just told me,” she shrugged. She was going to explain how the concept of being gay wasn’t that common on the Isle but Chad cut in.

“Well, it’s not like it’s surprising when we all knew Carlos was gay.”

“Hey!” Carlos argued.

“Jay though? That’s surprising,” he continued as if he hadn’t said anything. 

“Bisexual,” he corrected flatly.

“Whatever.”

“God,” Jane breathed. “I thought you were going to hate me for being a lesbian,” she said.

Carlos shrugged. “I thought you were going to hate me for being gay – we didn’t even really know it was even a thing until, what?” He looked at Jay. “A few weeks ago?”

Jay nodded. “Isle is really different,” he explained.

“It isn’t too common here,” Lonnie said. “Not like, grossly rare or anything but also not unheard of if that makes sense. My dad’s bisexual.”

“Really?” the boys asked in unison, surprise on their faces. 

She laughed and nodded. “He did fall for my mom when he though she was a man after all,” she shrugged. “My parents won’t mind me being a lesbian for sure.”

“And I’m guessing ‘lesbian’ is the girl version of gay?” Carlos asked.

Jane and Lonnie looked at them curiously. “You really didn’t know a lot on the Isle, huh?” Jane asked.

“Nope,” the boys said.

“I didn’t even know it was a thing until less than an hour ago,” Evie added. 

“Oh,” Lonnie frowned. “But yeah, ‘lesbian’ is what gay women are called. But gay works fine for girls too.”

She nodded Okay, so girls could definitely be gay and it was called being a lesbian. That was, for some reason, comforting to know. 

They got to the venue and they were finally free of Chad and Audrey. She stayed by Doug and let him hold her hand. Lonnie and Jane went to meet up with their parents and Jay and Carlos followed her and Doug as they went to meet up with his family. 

“Remind me why aren’t we sitting with Mal?” Carlos whispered to her, a few feet behind Doug.

“Guessing we’re not important enough,” she said. 

Doug turned his head to them. “Only Auradon’s royal family and whomever is the King’s lady sit at the main table,” he said. “Don’t worry, there’s plenty going on at my table.”

Evie nodded. “I’d bet.” 

“My cousins and I have our own table anyway, Snow White, Prince, and my dad and uncles’ table is right next to us. But I got a good amount of cousins to keep us company.”

She’d rather spend it with just Jay and Carlos as well as Mal. Mostly Mal. She really wished she could spend it with her, especially with how stressed she had been. She was probably having a meltdown that night. 

But she didn’t know where she was so she was, she hadn’t even seen the royal carriage. 

Once they were inside the castle it was being held at, she followed Doug to his table. There were already some people sitting there, supposedly Doug’s cousins. 

Happy’s son Henry, who was probably the opposite of ‘happy’ to the point he’d fit in with those of the Isle, glanced at them. “Hey, Doug,” he said. He didn’t bother to greet her and the boys, as they sat together across from him. 

“Hey, Henry,” Doug replied. “No date?” 

He shrugged. “Not all of us can get hot princesses, Doug.” 

She scowled at him. What a jerk. 

“And by the look of it,” he glanced at Jay and Carlos. “I’m not the only one without one.”

The boys exchanged a glance. “Uh, observation wrong,” Jay shrugged. 

He raised a brow at the two. “de Vil doesn’t surprise me but you? Pretty shocking.”

“Why does everyone keep saying me being gay’s obvious?” Carlos muttered.

Jay laughed and ruffled his hair. “Worse things in the world,” he said and laid his arm behind his shoulders. Evie couldn’t help but smile at them. Those casual but intimate gestures clearly had something more to them. She could see it now that she knew they were dating. She’d have to ask for the details later. 

Evie glanced at the table next to them and saw Snow White and Prince had arrived. She decided to give her technical step sister a small wave from where she sat. She got a look and probably the fakest smile was given to her as she waved back, but soon turned back to Prince.

What a bitch.

She looked back at Doug. “Do Mal, Ben, and his parents have to do some big entrance or something?” she asked. 

He nodded. “Yeah, they sit at that table there.” He pointed towards a table a little far from them. It was considerably smaller than the one they were at, only set to sit four people. The chairs were also much fancier than theirs. That was when she noticed the royalty all seemed to have gotten much nicer chairs than them.

She looked back at Doug. “Why do we get the shi– not as good chairs?”

He shrugged. “Normal for royalty to get the good stuff. You know how the sidekicks have been lately.”

She knew vaguely about that. Seemed like sidekicks weren’t treated too much better than villains at times. That was when she realised around Snow White the chairs for the dwarfs were smaller versions of the ones they were sitting in. 

“That’s… really unfair,” Jay frowned. 

Doug shrugged. “Just the way it is.”

“But it’s kind of micro aggressive in a way,” Carlos agreed. 

Evie nodded. “It kind of is. Either we all get nice chairs or we all get the shitty chairs.” She didn’t bother to censor herself this time. This was really damn weird. 

“Guy, it’s not the time for a political debate,” Doug said. 

Maybe they were just mad after growing up on the Isle where it was everyone for themselves. In the place of happily ever after, you’d think everyone would be treated the same, right? 

Before they could even continue the conversation more of Doug’s cousins appeared, half greeting Evie, Jay, and Carlos but giving most of their attention to Doug or Henry or whatever other cousin was already there. She switched her attention to Jay and Carlos, forgetting about Doug, not caring if it encouraged some, kids of the Isle only sticking together stereotype. 

She was still thinking about the concept of being gay. How girls didn’t have to like guys, how girls could like girls. How Lonnie and Jane were really dating. 

Could she be like them? Because she never had any interest in guys. She never thought about the romantic part of being with a prince, only the status part. Then with Doug, she felt he was the best, or even the least awful, guy to date. But she didn’t get those butterflies people talked about, and maybe this was truly why. 

But she’d always been told her life was meant to be with a prince, a guy. Maybe she could be completely wrong and she just hadn’t found the perfect guy yet.

She didn’t have time because Lumière stepped at the top of a staircase that lead to the table reserved for Ben, his parents, and Mal. “Please rise,” he bellowed.

She stood up and turned to the staircase, staring at where Lumière stood. 

He stepped to the side. “Lady Mal,” he announced and Mal stepped out. 

Evie watched her as she stepped out. She was wearing a purple dress she’d made for her, her hair in a half up do with a tiara. 

Her jaw almost hit the floor. She loved beyond gorgeous. She was stunning. Beautiful.

Her eyes followed her as she walked down the staircase, picking up her skirt as she descended down the staircase. It’s like no one else was in the room. All her brain could focus on was Mal. She sat down in a chair and she still stared. She didn’t realise how much she’d been staring until she felt a nudge on her arm.

She blinked and glanced at Carlos who was giving her a curious look. She gave him a small, dismissive smile and looked at Belle and Beast as the came down arm in arm, soon followed by Ben. 

“Please be seated,” Lumière said. 

She pulled her chair out and sat back down and that was when the knot came in her stomach. She wanted to do nothing but kiss the hell out of her best friend.

…

There wasn’t any time at all to meet up with Mal during the dinner. Or really to stray away from your own table. Most people seemed to keep with themselves, maybe some people turned in their chair to talk to someone at the next table over but most stayed constrained to their own. 

Evie didn’t see her until they were back at their dorms. Jay and Carlos were there because they still hadn’t told her they were dating. They had told her their plan was to tell her at the dinner but due to not even being able to get near her, they decided to meet her at the dorms and tell her then. 

Evie was still thinking about how she felt when she saw her, and knowing what she did now. That she might not like guys, that she might like girls. That she might like Mal. 

She could be wrong. What if she was just mistaking that feeling of friendship with a crush? She barely knew what love was. She didn’t get any as a kid. 

But when she thought of Mal, she got butterflies. When they cuddled she never wanted to leave the embrace. She wished she could always be there to comfort her and make sure she was never sad. 

She should talk to Carlos and ask how he knew he didn’t like Jane and actually liked Jay. That he didn’t like girls and actually liked guys. How did he even figure that out? If she was closer to Lonnie or Jane she’d try talking to them but she wasn’t. Carlos was the safest choice. He was her first friend when she started to attend Dragon Hall and they’d been close ever since. Not as close and she and Mal were but they were still really close. And maybe he’d be able to help her out with that whole, not liking the gender you were told your entire life to.

The door opened and Mal stepped in, falling against the door and sighing with her eyes close. She looked absolutely exhausted. 

“I don’t ever want to do that again,” she said.

“What happened?” Carlos asked, frowning at her. The boys were sat on Mal’s bed, sitting closely and holding hands while she sat on her own bed. She’d half expected them to stop holding hands when Mal showed up. 

“Reporters,” Mal sighed. “They were hounding the fuck out of me. And they were asking about marriage!” she started to pace around the room and the three watched her as she did. 

“Mal,” Evie spoke but Mal kept pacing around the room.

“They were asking serious questions!” she said, her voice going high, throwing her arms around as she spoke. “Like, if there’s a wedding. What I’d wear! Who’d make my dress! If my mother would attend the wedding!”

“Mal,” Jay tried but to no avail. 

“Then they asked what I’d do as queen, if I thought I’d make a good queen! How many kids I wanted, what their names would be – why are you two holding hands?”

She finally stopped pacing, staring at the boys now. At least she’d stopped pacing and stressing. 

The boys exchanged a look and shrugged. That was why they were there after all. “Did you know guys could like guys and girl could like girls?” Carlos asked casually.

She raised a brow at them. “No,” she said. “So, wait, you’re dating now?”

They nodded. “Yep,” Jay said.

She waved her hands in a dismissive gesture. “Awesome, I’m too stressed right now so explain what this is later, alright.”

Jay laughed and nodded. “Fine, I think you need to go to bed.”

She nodded sadly. “Yeah.”

With that, the boys left the room. 

“Mal?” she asked. “Do you want help getting off your makeup or with your hair?” 

She shook her head. “I just need space, E,” she said. “I way too stressed.”

She frowned but nodded anyway. She would rather comfort her but if that wasn’t what she wanted, she’d listen and leave her alone. 

But by the time they were in bed and she heard Mal softly crying herself to sleep she wanted to step into her bed to cuddle her and kiss away her tears.

Maybe this was what love was meant to feel like.

…

It spread pretty quickly that Jay and Carlos were dating. And when Mal found out Jane and Lonnie were dating she burst into laughter. Most people didn’t seem to care, some even admitted they weren’t surprised by either couples. According to Jane, her mother had said the reason she was surprised by her and Carlos dating was because they were both clearly in love with other people. Apparently she called it motherly intuition or something. 

Mal seemed to quickly grasp the concept of being gay. Just like them, she’d never heard of the concept. She seemed to quickly accept the idea of Jay and Carlos dating, they actually acted no different than they had previously had. Even before they started dating and first came to Auradon. Jay putting his arms around Carlos and Carlos nuzzling close to Jay, usually resting his head on his shoulder. Evie didn’t understand how she’d never seen it before. They fit together so easily. 

She still wasn’t sure how she felt about Mal. Maybe it was some sort of intense feeling of friendship, she was her best friend after all. 

But maybe it wasn’t. Maybe all these butterflies and knots and her stomach were those feelings she was always told she’d feel for guys. Maybe she really was like Lonnie and Jane. 

God, she really needed to talk to Carlos. 

When she got to Carlos’s room, he was on his laptop on his bed, Dude cuddled next to him. 

“Hey Carlos,” she smiled, sitting on his bed.

“Hey, Eve,” he said, eyes still on his laptop and scratching Dude’s side. The truth potion had worn off, so Dude could no longer talk. Collectively, it was a relief although Carlos seemed to miss it a little. 

“Where’s Jay?” she asked.

“With Jordan, she’s asking him and Lonnie about R.O.A.R stuff for the show thing she does,” he said. Jordan was Genie’s daughter and she knew the two were friendly. 

“Why’s Jay there if Lonnie’s captain?” she asked. 

He shrugged. “Guessing because he initially was. Even he was confused.”

She nodded. “Alright,” she said. “Um, by the way. Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” he said. He still hadn’t glanced up at her. Maybe he’d properly look at her when she asked her question. 

“How’d you know you… you had feelings for Jay?”

Yep, that got hid attention. He glanced from his laptop to her. “What?”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “How’d you know you had feelings for gay? And that, uh, you didn’t like girls?” 

He sat up, putting his laptop to the side. “Is there something you want to talk about?” he asked. 

She frowned and looked down at her lap. Maybe this was a bad idea. She should’ve just left it alone and tried to figure out things for himself. 

But Carlos spoke. “I never got butterflies with girls,” he said. She looked back at him and saw he’d drawn his knees to his chest. 

“What do you mean?” 

He shrugged. “I never had that nice feelings when like, I was around girls. I never cared about, looking at girls or getting a girlfriend or anything like that. And then dating Jane… I dated her because I thought it was the ‘normal’ thing to do. Even though I never got those butterflies with her. I felt like I had to do it, even though I saw her as a friend.”

‘Felt like he had to.’ Shit. That was exactly how it felt with guys for her. That she had to like them.

She first tried Chad because he was the prince she’d always been told to chase.

Then with Doug because he seemed like the nice guy she was meant to go for in the world of Auradon. 

And then back on the Isle when she would flirt with guys, it wasn’t because she was interested. She’d thought it was the only way to make herself interested in them. 

“So, Jay?” she prompted.

He shrugged. “I’ve loved him since the Isle. I just didn’t know it. Like, if he laughed? I’d feel happy. I guess I realised when Jane and I were dating. Because whenever I was with her, I’d want to be with Jay.”

And whenever when she was with Doug, she wanted to be with Mal. Without fail, she’d always rather be with Mal over her own boyfriend.

“Carlos,” she breathed. “I think I’m a lesbian.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I think I knew,” he said. He shuffled closer to her. “It’s Mal, isn’t it?”

She gaped at him. “How did you…” she trailed off.

“That way you looked at her at the dinner, when she walked down the staircase,” he said. 

She thought about it. She remembered the nudge he’d given her last night when she stared at Mal. The look of love must’ve been written all over her face. 

She felt a tear roll down her face and she nodded. “I think I’m in love with her.”

He nodded. “Okay if I hug you?” he asked. When she nodded, he pulled her into his arms and she rested her head on his shoulder.

“God, Carlos. What am I going to do?” she sobbed out. The tears had really started to come now. Her nose started to get so stuffed and her eyes stang from the salt in her tears. 

Carlos rubbed her arm. “If it helps, I think she feels the same.”

She wiped her tears and turned to look at him. “What?” Why would she? She wasn’t like her. And she was in love with Ben.

He nodded. “I really do think that.”

She shook her head and shuffled away. “No, she doesn’t, C. She has Ben.”

“And who does she always turn to when Ben stuff are stressing her out?”

That didn’t mean anything. Of course Mal would turn to her, she was her best friend. It was normal for girls to cuddle each other. 

“Thanks for trying, but she doesn’t,” she said. 

“Evie, are you sure?” he asked. “Maybe she was like us and had no idea it was a thing. Jay said she was asking him about the whole, bisexual thing and if she really could like girls as well as guys.”

She raised her brows at him. “Really?” 

He nodded. “Well, she didn’t necessarily say she was bisexual. But like, she burst into our room and asked him about it. I think she’s questioning it because she feels the same way as you do.”

“Are you sure?” she asked. Because even if she was bisexual, she couldn’t possibly feel the same way. 

“Who else would she be in love with?”

She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I appreciate you trying, but she doesn’t. She has Ben, Carlos.”

“And what if she just hasn’t realised how she feels? Like me and Jay,” he asked. “Me and Jay thought we just had, these intense feelings of friendship. Because neither of us really had friends before. But we all had the same loveless childhoods. My mom made me sleep in a closet, Jay was never hugged by Jafar, your mom never gave you much love, and Mal… well, her mom’s Maleficent.” 

She closed her eyes, thinking about it. Mal had said she didn’t know what love felt like for the longest time. But even then, she doubted there was truth to his statement. It was Ben who made her know what love is, not her. 

“Carlos,” she squeaked out. “No,” she shook her head. “She doesn’t feel that way about me.” 

He looked like he still wanted to argue, but he sighed and shuffled away. “Fine,” he said. “But do you think you’re gay?” he asked. 

She sighed an d nodded. “Yeah, I think I definitely am.”

“You going to breakup with Doug.”

Oh right. She still really needed to do that. 

The door opened and Jay walked in. Carlos practically lit up at the sight of him. “Hey Jay,” he said. “How was the interview?”

He shrugged. “Alright, I let Lonnie do most of the talking since she’s captain and all.” He walked to his own bed and glanced at Evie. “Hey Evie.”

“Hey Jay,” she said. 

“What’re you two chatting on about?” he asked, taking a sip of his water. 

Carlos glanced at Evie. She sighed. She wasn’t planning to tell him yet, but there was some nice feeling in telling Carlos. “Nothing much,” she said. “I’m a lesbian, by the way.”

Jay looked up at her, and he laughed and smiled. He stepped forward and hugged her from behind, hooking his arm around her neck. She laughed as he pulled her to his back. 

“Awesome, great news,” he said and let her go. “You very obviously didn’t like Doug.”

She frowned. “Was it really that obvious?”

He nodded. “Yep,” he said. “You’ve really been avoiding him.”

She had. She really had. And it was unfair to Doug to continue to be with him when she didn’t feel the same way about him. 

Tomorrow. She’d breakup with him tomorrow. 

…

That morning at breakfast, Evie kept an eye out for Doug while she sat with Jay and Carlos. She was planning to breakup with him and while it terrified her, she wanted to just get to it over and done with. It would have to happen after all, especially with the nudges of confidence Jay and Carlos had been giving her. 

Carlos had said he’d struggled with breaking up with Jane. Mostly because she was such a genuinely sweet girl. At least it ended well for them and they were both with who they really wanted to be with. She wished this was the truth for her and Mal. As if Mal didn’t truly love Ben and then they could be the ones holding hands and giving each other sweet kisses. 

If only those fantasies could become her reality. If only. 

Jay and Carlos were having their own conversation while Evie ate but kept her eyes open for Doug. She was on edge all morning about it. She knew she had to do it, she had to do it. Of course, the one time she wasn’t avoiding him was the time she couldn’t find him. 

Mal came to the table, setting down her plate of bacon and eggs. She sat down next to her in a huff. 

“Morning sunshine,” Carlos said jokingly. 

“Don’t,” she huffed. 

She frowned at her. “You okay?” she asked. 

She shook her head. “Everything with Ben’s been stressing me out,” she said. “I don’t know what I’d do if I do end up marrying him.”

Jay and Carlos looked at each other. “You don’t have to marry him, Mal,” Jay said. 

“Yes I do,” she said. 

“Do you want to?” Carlos frowned. “Do you even want to be with him?”

She expected her to insist she did want to marry him, that she loved him. But instead she sighed. “I don’t even know what I want anymore.”

The boys fell quiet, going back to their food. She expected some, ‘I told you so’ look from Carlos. But he kept his eyes on his food. That was when she realised this was the first time they’d seen her doubts in a life with Ben. In being queen. 

This was the first time she’d seen her admit she wasn’t sure if she wanted to marry him at all. 

That was when she saw Doug across the room. Her day was going great, clearly. 

“I’ll be right back,” she said and hastily stood up. She could feel the boys watching her as she walked across the room. 

“Hello, Evie,” he smiled. “You look lovely this morn–”

“Can we talk?” she cut him off, biting her lip as she looked at him, her eyes watering a little. 

He gaped a little at her. “Uh, sure,” he said. “Want to talk outside?”

She nodded and followed him outside by the lockers. 

“Yeah?” he asked but his voice broke a little. He knew what was happening. And she felt awful. She felt like she was going to be sick from the guilt. But she had to do it, if she didn’t it’d only make things worse.

“I’m breaking up with you,” she bit her lip. “I’m sorry.”

He swallowed and nodded, looking away from her in favour of the ground. “It’s okay. If you’re not happy then you’re not happy.”

She frowned and a tear fell down her face. “Doug, I’m sorry,” she repeated and more tears came. “I’m so sorry.”

He looked back at her and she started to full on sob. She didn’t even care about her makeup. She felt so, so awful about this. 

“Evie?” he asked. “Are you okay?”

She wiped her tears. “Doug,” her voice broke. “I’m a lesbian,” she blurted. “I didn’t know until, like, yesterday.”

He stared at her and she expected him to yell at her. But instead he said, “Evie, it’s okay.”

“What?” she asked, her voice weak. 

“It’s okay,” he said. “I mean, if you didn’t know, you didn’t know.”

She swallowed. “I didn’t even know that I… could be,” she said. 

He frowned. “Not at all?”

“Nope.”

He looked back towards the dining room. “Is that why it took so long for Jay and Carlos to get together?” 

She smiled and laughed. “Yeah, it is.”

He smiled. “Well, I hope you find the girl of your dreams.”

She almost started to cry again. Doug was too good of a guy.

…

Evie knew she had to tell Mal she liked girls. Hell, she wanted to tell her. She was her best friend after all. 

She was still dealing with what she was feeling for her. That she was very much in love with her. But she didn’t have to tell her how she felt, just that she was a lesbian. 

It was actually more difficult than she thought it would be. She didn’t at all think she would hate her for it. But it was still difficult. She couldn’t put that fear into words. 

When she got back to their dorm from class, she saw her on her bed, with her laptop. 

“Hey, M,” she said tossing her backpack aside. 

She looked from her laptop to her. She frowned. “E, I need a second opinion.”

She frowned and nodded. “Yeah, what?”

“Should I break up with Ben?”

She gaped at her. “Mal, are you sure?”

She swallowed and set her laptop aside. “I don’t think I loved Ben as much as I thought I did.”

She sat down next to her. “Mal, if that’s what you want to do, then yes do it.” 

She blinked at her. “You sure it’s not an awful thing to do?”

She took a deep breath, thinking of her breakup with Doug. “You shouldn’t be with him just because you don’t want to hurt him. I did that to Doug.”

She frowned. “Wait, you and Doug broke up?”

She nodded a little. “We did,” she coughed awkwardly. “Today. I uh, had been meaning to tell you that. And that I’m also, uh, I… I am,” she coughed again. Why was this so hard? “I’m gay – a lesbian. I like girls.”

Mal looked at her and she wasn’t sure exactly what look crossed her face. Relief? Surprise? A mix between the two.

“You sure I should breakup with him?” she asked, her voice small.

“Are you happy with him?”

“I guess.”

“Do you, well, want to be with him?”

“I think.”

Okay, maybe the big one. “Do you love him?” 

She closed her eyes and sighed. “I don’t know,” she said. “I think I did but it kind of dwindled away.” 

She watched her as her body slump. She took a deep breath. “Breakup with him,” she said.

She looked at her and nodded. “Yeah, I think I should.”

…

Not at all surprisingly, breaking up with the King of Auradon didn’t get the best response from the press. 

Mal had dealt with the press by ignoring them. Jay and Carlos had gone into a protective mode, steering her away from press and telling them to leave her alone. Fairy God Mother had intervened too, threatening them for trespassing on Auradon Prep’s grounds, 

Students didn’t seem to hold anything against her. Maybe some people expected it. The general rumour was that Ben had been the one to break up with Mal. Ben had stated that the breakup was actually mutual but no one had listened and it wasn’t even true, so Evie wondered why he bothered. Mal had said the decision to say it was mutual would create less rumours and drama. Although, it still had done quite the opposite. 

Evie thought of that mostly when reporters would shout questions asking what she had done to lost King Ben, earning a shout to leave her alone from Jay as he stepped between them, and Carlos pulling her away in a way of protection. That didn’t ward them off but it did help Mal get a little less harassed. 

Not by much but at least a little. 

They all got back to Evie and Mal’s dorm, all on some level of frustration. 

“Shit,” Jay sighed, sitting on Evie’s bed. “They’re like dragons.”

Mal nodded, falling onto her bed. “I fucking know. Can’t they just give it a rest?”

Evie sat with her. She ran her fingers through her hair in hopes to comfort. As Carlos sat with Jay, they both watched her. In the corner of her eye, she caught the smile they exchanged. 

“They’ll give up eventually,” Carlos said. “They have to. What are they getting out of a few pictures?” 

“A lot, surprisingly,” Mal muttered.

“At least they’re nice pictures,” Evie said, trying to make her feel better. She was still running her fingers through her hair. It felt like such a natural thing to do, to comfort her by physical comfort. Usually it was cuddling but right now, running her fingers through her hair seemed right. 

Mal snorted. “I hope,” she muttered. As she ran her fingers through her hair, Mal took hold of her hand. She froze a little as Mal rubbed her palm with her thumb.

“Well,” Jay said standing up. “We have Tourney practice.”

She glanced at them and watched them leave the room 

“See you two later,” Jay called as the door closed behind them. 

Mal was still rubbing her palm with her thumb. It was a nice feeling. 

When she sat up, she still held her hand. “I need to tell you something,” she said. She bit her lip as she looked at her.

Evie took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah?”

“There’s more to why I broke up with Ben.”

She nodded. “Yeah?”

“I realised I might be in love with someone else. Or I realise that I was.”

She blinked at her. “Who?” she asked.

She took a deep breath. “You.”

It hit her hard. Mal was in love with her.

Mal was in love with her!

“Really?” she squeaked out, her face heating up. 

She nodded. “Yeah, I think I realised when Jay and Carlos said they were dating. Like, I didn’t know I could, you know, like girls I guess. So I thought I just had intensely strong feelings of friendship. Because I never really knew what love was before.”

She gaped at her. “So you’re…”

“Bisexual, definitely bisexual.”

And she smiled. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing I love you too.”

Mal grinned at her. “Really?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

And they grinned at each other. “So what? Do we kiss now or something?” Mal asked.

Evie grinned. “I’d love that.”

“Awesome.”

Mal leaned forward and she kissed her. Evie kissed her back with tenderness, wrapping her arms around her waist while Mal cupped her face in her hands. 

This was so much better than any kiss with Doug. She didn’t want to flinch away she wanted to pull her in and kiss her until she couldn’t breathe. She wanted their souls to be wrapped in each other as if they were one person. She didn’t think about the shake this would cause in Auradon or Carlos’s ‘I told you so.’ Her mind was only on Mal. Mal. Mal.

She didn’t get the prince her mother wanted but she got something so much better.


End file.
